Though Marcus Camby’s first start for the Knicks didn’t go as well he had hoped in Game 3 of the Finals, Jeff Van Gundy said he will have Camby in the starting lineup again in Game 4 tonight.

Having picked up his second foul midway through the first quarter Monday, Camby played just 16 minutes and managed just five points, four rebounds and three blocked shots in the Knicks’ 89-81 victory to pull within two games to one. It was far short of his performances against the Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals when he emerged as a star.

But the 6-foot-11 Camby said he has prepared a new strategy to keep himself out of foul trouble early tonight.

“I just have to settle down,” Camby said yesterday before the Knicks practiced at the Garden. “I think I’m too energetic coming out there. So I just have to be more poised and play solid defense by moving my feet.

“I know for us to win this series I have to be out there on the court.”

Due to seemingly constant foul trouble, Camby, who fouled out Monday, has been on the court only half the series. He is averaging 24 minutes, seven points and seven rebounds. His first Finals has not been what he had in mind.

“I’m going to be more cautious picking my spots,” he said. “I don’t want to pick up those cheap fouls, over the back. I know I have to still be aggressive and still go to the glass and try and make plays and try and make things happen.”

Even in limited minutes, Camby found a way to excite the crowd and devastate the Spurs when he followed a missed shot with a one-handed follow-up slam early in the fourth quarter.

Those kind of dunks were his forte earlier in the playoffs, when he wasn’t always being whistled for fouls.

Tonight he plans on starting the game on the calm side, which he wasn’t able to do in Game 3.

“I was just so aggressive, pumped up, through introductions,” said Camby, who also got into a shoving match with David Robinson in the third quarter. “I think my emotions and my energy got the best of me. I picked up two quick fouls. I just have to calm down a little bit more and settle into the flow of the game.”